Police Officer Involved Domestic Violence.
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Saturday, August 22, 2009

...Before sentencing, [Former Siskiyou County Sheriff's Deputy Keith] McIntosh's estranged wife, Renee, said she still lives in fear of him, adding that she's worried he might come after her, as well as her friends, once he's freed from prison. "I'm scared to death if he gets out"...

Previous post:[CA] Ex-Deputy McIntosh - Attempted murder of his wife charges - ...McIntosh yanked her by the hair to the ground and tried to "choke her out"... During the scuffle, she saw him pull out a loaded 9 mm pistol from the small of his back and point it at her head... Investigators seized nine firearms from McIntosh's home...

FORMER DEPUTY SENTENCED TO SEVEN YEARS IN PRISONRecord-SearchlightBy Jim SchultzPosted August 22, 2009 at midnight

A former Siskiyou County sheriff's deputy who pleaded no contest in March to assaulting his estranged wife with a loaded semi-automatic pistol was sentenced Friday in Shasta County Superior Court to seven years in prison.

Keith Alan McIntosh, 47, who had no prior criminal history and sought probation, faced a maximum of 19 years in prison in connection with the Jan. 18 attack outside a Saffron Way home.

Superior Court Judge Wilson Curle said McIntosh was ineligible for probation because he used a gun in the attack. But Curle also rejected a prosecutor's urging that aggravating factors merited at least a 16-year prison sentence.

Noting that McIntosh had no prior criminal convictions, Curle cited a 1999 case in which a former Redding police officer was sentenced by another judge to nine years in prison for assaulting and threatening his ex-fiancee with a gun.

The cases were strikingly similar, Curle said, though he characterized the circumstances surrounding that 1999 attack as more frightening.

As such, he explained, he did not believe the seven-year sentence was out of bounds.

"Consistency is something we (judges) strive for," he said.

Earlier, Deputy District Attorney Michael Hemker argued that McIntosh has not shown real remorse or taken responsibility for the attack.

"He tried to kill her," Hemker said. "This is a man who completely snapped that day."

Redding defense attorney John Kucera said there is no excuse for domestic violence. He said McIntosh had become overwhelmed by the disintegration of his marriage and was in the throes of other hardships, including alcohol abuse, but deserved to be punished.

However, he argued that the maximum sentence was too severe.

"He was at the peak of his despair," he said. "This was not an intent to kill anybody."

Before sentencing, McIntosh's estranged wife, Renee, said she still lives in fear of him, adding that she's worried he might come after her, as well as her friends, once he's freed from prison.

"I'm scared to death if he gets out," she said. She believed she was going to die in the January attack, she said.

McIntosh, who must serve 85 percent of his sentence, or about 5.9 years, before becoming eligible for parole, was arrested after police said they found him locked in a frantic struggle with his wife and three neighbors at a Saffron Way home in Redding.

During the scuffle, Renee McIntosh saw her husband, who had been arrested the night before for drunken driving, pull out a loaded 9 mm pistol from the small of his back and point it at her head, she told police.

She said she was able to swat away the gun, and friends and neighbors of hers were able to keep McIntosh pinned down until police arrived.

McIntosh worked in Siskiyou County as a law enforcement officer between 1984 and 1993.

Siskiyou County sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp has said that part of his career with the Sheriff's Department was as a reserve deputy, who worked simultaneously at the Weed Police Department. He quit law enforcement work as the result of a back injury.

Reporter Jim Schultz can be reached at 225-8223 or at jschultz@redding.com. [LINK]

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EX-DEPUTY PLEADS TO ASSAULTING WIFEredding.comNorth State BriefsMarch 10, 2009A former Siskiyou County sheriff's deputy and ex-Weed police officer is facing up to 19 years in prison after pleading no contest Monday to assault with a semi-automatic firearm in connection with a Jan. 18 attack on his estranged wife. Keith Alan McIntosh, 47, who also admitted to the use of a firearm and no contest to drunken driving, remains in custody in Shasta County jail in lieu of $1.5 million bail... [Full article here][police officer involved domestic violence law enforcement lethal california]